TitanPad

Following my review of Scribblar I’ve decided to chime in on TitanPad, since the two compliment each other so nicely. Like Scribblar, TitanPad is a collaborative online tool, but unlike its whiteboard brother, it allows users to collaborate on word documents. It is a fantastic tool for teachers and one that I have used often. It’s fantastic for teachers and students, and is free and requires no sign up (does it get any better?).

The technology: TitanPad

My impression: TitanPad is a simple online program that is exceptionally easy to use. Importing documents is easy (you can import from text file, HTML, Word, or RTF). If your document isn’t saved in one of those formats, you can copy and paste directly onto the website. As you go you can save your revisions, and you can go back and watch an accelerated video of your progress using timeslider.

TitanPad is awesome for teachers because it allows you to see each students contributions individually by highlighting their writing in their own color. You can also have students export their finished document as an OpenDocument so you can watch their timeslider to see their writing process.

TitanPad would benefit from built in voice chat, and it is limited to word documents only (no images can be added). However, it’s very efficient in its simplicity and I’ve enjoyed using it with my students.

Possible uses in the classroom/ Lesson ideas:

TitanPad is great for having students collaborate with other classes in different cities, or with students in different classes in the same school. My favorite application so far has been having each of my students log onto the website in the computer lab, projecting my screen, and having a class collaboration with all of us right there in the same room. We wrote a great class story this way and the students thought it was the coolest thing ever.